


spotlight

by ticoyuu



Category: Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Gen or Pre-Slash, M/M, No Spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-16
Updated: 2019-11-15
Packaged: 2021-01-31 13:32:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21447010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ticoyuu/pseuds/ticoyuu
Summary: They're gonna have to keep updating their definition of 'exhilerating'.-----(I'm roughly 3 hours in, but spent 100 years dawdling in the wild area, so it's spoiler free. hahahah// this and rating will likely change later on.)
Relationships: Hop (Pokemon) & Original Character(s), Hop (Pokemon)/Original Character(s)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 19





	spotlight

**Author's Note:**

> order of events are fudged a little in part to accomodate the story and... mostly because i forgot the details already hfjfbfhb o<--<
> 
> tagged as aged up cos i find it easier to write teens tbh.. i imagine them as maybe 14 or 15 here with leon probably in his late 20s?? its not super important LOL
> 
> chih is what i named him; its more a nickname tho /shameless self insert intensifies.. do they even have canon names yet???

It's not something either of them are used to, other than watching from the far side of a screen miles away.

Except today they'd stood on the field itself; saw seven of the eight Gym Leaders, even spoke to some of them afterwards. By the time the opening ceremony finished, the sky had long since turned orange.

...And by the time Chih and Hop got back to their rooms at the hotel, it had already reached deep into the night.

There were so many people there. Possibly more than Chih had ever seen in his life. And with more energy to boot; truly, a bit shocking. All the lights and glamour... Chih hadn't been a city boy since he was maybe six or seven and living in Castelia City, Unova. Thus, the whole experience had been scary to an extent, but even more than that:  _ exciting! _

Sooo very much. Overwhelmingly so, even. Especially to Hop. While Chih had managed to convince his best friend (who had deteriorated to a vibrating ball of wound-up energy) not to headout for Route 3 immediately, because  _ it's close to midnight, you sod--  _

\--Yeah, it'd been close. Seriously. Chih came  _ this _ close to knocking his incredible, and incredibly impulsive, friend out himself.

But he'd managed, with words. At the cost of battling Hop himself, which really couldn't be counted a cost at all. 

See, as much as Chih tries to be the responsible one, that ideal didn't stop him from para-accidentally registering his jersey number as 69-- listen, he didn't think it wouldn't wait for him to hit enter!-- and it, likewise, also did nothing to prevent the foregone conclusion of hotel staff eventually kicking them out of the lobby to battle in the garden instead. (Frankly, Chih had been surprised that their reaction was so lowkey, but it's a stadium-affiliated hotel after all, so... 

He  _ is _ still rather curious about their official policies regarding property damage and disturbance of peace, though.)

=====

Hop lies flat on his back, Wooloo and Scorbunny safely in their Pokeballs, and laughs.

"Finally got that out o' your system?" Chih asks, also flopped on the ground next to his friend. Sobble, his own Wooloo, and Yamper- Fafa, Dianxia, and Shi Qing Xuan, respectively- are also resting up in their balls. The garden is grassy and shockingly well-maintained, considering the trainers it accommodates. (...Ooor... maybe that's just them...)

Hop doesn't answer for a bit, instead going uncharacteristically quiet.

Chih's about to roll closer and see if he finally bottomed out on adrenaline rush and died or something, when Hop finally responds. The quieter of the two stops where he is, a little closer and now lying on his front.

Hop chuckles at his friend's curious glance.

"No way, mate... I'm  _ still  _ so damn wound up right now."

"Even after we got kicked out of a hotel that thanked us for violently ejecting hooligans from the premises just yesterday?" Chih deadpans.

"Nonono not... well, maybe it's that?" 

"..."

"All that energy, people cheering so loud I couldn't even think clearly-"

"You mean, like usual?"

"Awe c'mon mate, that's cold. But no. It's so... mmph... I just-?"

\--Hop is kinda talking to himself at this point. Chih's starting to zone out when he catches the last bit, and it brings him back down to earth real quick.

"-get it now, why my bro gets such a rush out of it."

Chih doesn't actually know much about Hop's brother as a person, having just met him a week or so back, but he'd gotten the sense that Leon is kind of older Hop. With more brain cells and impulse control, but at the cost of navigational competency. Ahh, equivalent exchange...

"Sorry, what?" Chih ends up asking.

Hop smirks a little when he says back, "Haha, it's not important."

The two of them lapse into silence. It's a nice round moon tonight- thankfully, for the sake of everyone's safety on this  _ midnight sojourn _ \- and the shadows it casts are liquid and velvety. 

In the shadow of the most glamorous place in all of Galar, Chih can't help but feel rather small. He wonders if Hop is having any similar late-night existentialism. 

And then Hop suddenly smacks his palms on the grass, bolting himself upright with clenched fists and a loud exclamation-

"Aagh, I seriously can't calm down! That  _ thrill- _ so many lights, all the noise- right now they're all screaming Lee's name, but-"

Hop drops off abruptly, the pause hanging pregnantly before he finishes. "One day that'll be me."

The look in his eyes is just a little bit wilder than usual. 

"...'Course it will," Chih responds, with a fond smile that's one hundred percent genuine.

"Yeah mate, you and me. Under all those lights, fighting for the title. The whole of Galar's eyes on  _ us. _ Callin'  _ us."  _

Hop meets Chih's gaze with a small shrug. "Can't fault me for getting all excited about it."

"Oh yeah, I feel you. It's gonna be one hell of a day. ..

But c'mon man, it's not TOday and speaking of that, we've already lost time. We should hit the sack already."

At that Hop literally hops to his feet and extends Chih an arm up with a grin. 

"Sure thing, mate."

=====

That night, Chih sleeps soundly with Shi Qing Xuan on the blanket snuggled close and off to the side, Fafa nestles comfortably atop Dianxia on the rug.

When dawn breaks, Chih and Hop go to wake each other up only to find themselves coming out to the hallway at the same time. 

They laugh, stock up on supplies real quick, and then hit the road.

**Author's Note:**

> "tico," you say, "is this leading up to adrenaline kink porn?"
> 
> HAHHAHA YOU FUCKING BEt ... err i mean.. huh wha ... 
> 
> ive got 3 chapters allotted rn, at least one of which is gonna be plot serious & one gratuitously self indulgent 'charas with a paper thin boundary between adrenaline of the spotlight + exhibitionist tendencies' porn bs but im not sure how any of itll go as i get further into the game hhahhhaa
> 
> feel free to hmu @ sirgeckcellent on tw! o/
> 
> \---  
p.s. yeah thats my actual team + he xuan the corvisquire & jiunyan the nickit


End file.
